Mental Health Resources in Second Life

* Please note that this is a growing list and is not yet comprehensive. If you are involved in providing mental health services and wish to be listed here, please contact me. List follows at bottom of post.

Conducting therapy in SL was my intention when first joining a little over 2 years ago. But, after discussions with colleagues, I opted against, at least for the time being. Then, I discovered the possibilities of live music, and the course shifted quite notably.

At least as of this writing, I do not intend to conduct therapy in SL. The separation of psychiatric work in RL and musical endeavors in SL has been a useful one.

There is, though, some cross-over in meditation. I’ve occasionally taught and led a group on the subject of meditation. Also, the meditative improvised music provides its own therapeutic functions.

Still, the questions of how one would conduct therapy in SL – would it be possible? and what are the considerations involved? – have been on my mind. In this setting, I was asked to speak, over the last weekend, regarding mental health in SL.

The Second Life News Network has a report on the talk from Saturday. (One bit of clarification to the article: I do not presently do music-therapy work in RL.) I enjoyed meeting several of the therapists and discussing some of the issues involved. Contributers included Avalon Birke of Wellness Island, Ren Stonecutter who discussed PTSD treatment, Marly Milena who has a background in humanistic psychology, Amaya Summers who runs a suicide prevention and education group, and myself.

Resources I’ve found are provided below. If anyone has any thoughts about them, please let me know, as I have not involved myself with these locations enough to give a comprehensive discussion or evaluation.

** Please note, Second Life is still very analagous to the Wild West. If you plan to get involved with therapy, realize that virtual therapy does not replace real-world therapy and that any therapist you meet, especially in the virtual worlds, is worth investigating for credentials. Therapy is a process that involves the development of trust, not just with institutions, but also with the individuals of those institutions. Unfortunately, I cannot personally vouch for any online therapist as I have not been in RL contact with them or with their clients. **

Having said that, I do strongly applaud those willing to do the work in creating an environment where therapy can happen online. There has been a lot of work done from what I can tell, and it cannot have been easy. Here are some of the sites I’ve discovered:

Online Therapy Institute

The Online Therapy Insitute is designed for clinicians and organizations who wish to enrich their knowledge about online counseling, clinical supervision and the impact of technology on mental health. The Institute, founded by Kate Anthony and DeeAnna Merz Nagel is a think tank for all issues related to e-therapy.

Wellness Island

Just like real life, your Second Life® can present a variety of joys, sorrows, and challenges. Support and help are available from qualified, ethical professionals at The Counseling Center. Wellness Island hosts The Counseling Center and provides both counseling, coaching, and consulting on RL/SL mental health issues. Our library of materials has been used by dozens of support and resource groups in Second Life®.

… and from Wellness Magazine:

WELLNESS Magazine in Second Life® is devoted to your healthy body, mind, and spirit. Our focus is emotional and mental health, but you will find articles and news on a wide variety of topics.

There are also numerous support groups that have formed in world as well. Hit search and type in your query whether it be mental health, depression, psychosis, anxiety, etc.

Is there something missing from the above? Would you like to see more detail? Let me know by providing me the URL, SLURL, and anything else you feel would be pertinent.

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25 Comments

TheoM
on August 27, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Gee your sites about Mind, Music, and Technology is hmm how can i say, different from the others. Keep adding i will be back

Although this center seems extremely beneficial and attractive the fact remains that if individuals on second life, not all are, are in fact addicted to this game by means of escaping from REALITY meaning the faculties and physical experience in their own bodies, these Mental Health and Wellness services will only further assert the addiction behavior for these individuals that have true isolation and addiction issues utilizing this game, Second Life, with or without the mental health resources as a negative coping mechanism distracting them from low self-esteem, trauma, and possible a multivariate of issues.

As for those without addictions to this site, interesting and enjoyable yet we must remember these programs are essentially programs and games, even on our advanced technologically oriented planet.

Hi Mindful, the services available in world are not only for “addiction” to a game world, which of course needs defining. Beyond this, there are services available for depression, anxiety, psychosis, and substance abuse, among others.

I do have to ask though, are you referring to any type of involvement in a virtual world as “addictive”? I also assume the connotation of a negative involvement when the term is used.

There is also the emphasis you place on the term “reality.” There are those who involve themselves on the computer in general for many hours a day, if not all day. In a sense, this too is an involvement in a “virtual” world. Second Life may have a central design, but the designers of the facets of its world are myriad as it is with the Internet in general. Are those who involve themselves with computers for much of the day also “addicted” by this definition?

While there are those who utilize technology towards defending themselves against the difficulties of low self-esteem, etc, one can also make a similar statement with food or sex. Most use these without difficulty and many positives can be stated of either.

Fairly nice post, really useful stuff. Never ever considered I would find the facts I need in this article. I’ve been hunting all around the net for some time now and had been starting to get frustrated. Luckily, I happened across your site and received precisely what I was struggling to find.

to much presure and stress to keep up with everyting in this old worlds,….
to many mental prob, bt there is alot more (not in list)
maybe one day mentel prob is not a prob anymore but normal person is a prob

This is a great source listing for online counseling help. I think people are starting to reach out more for help in the online community, which means there need to be better and more comprehensive sources for the public to turn to. When it comes to mental health, we need the advice and help of experts and professionals, not just some online joe blow. Thanks for the listing!